From Executive Director Madeleine Henner

2024 marked my first full year as Executive Director of Legacy Decatur. It was a year of disruption and construction, a year of investing in a future that’s greener, more attainable, and more connected. 

Throughout the year we embraced and fostered the capacity of the natural world, working with partners and volunteers to continue restoration work in the Legacy Park forest. In the extreme heat of summer, our lush canopy provided shade and absorbed heat. Leaves and roots filtered pollutants from the air and water and nurtured pollinators, birds, reptiles, mammals, and more. When Hurricane Helene breached three dams along Postal Pond creek, our revived wetlands absorbed the overflowing water and prevented flooding for our Katie Kerr neighbors.

We invested in human habitat too, making the park more accessible and attainable for all. The Decatur Housing Authority broke ground on an affordable village for low and middle income earners while the city, together with the community, designed new infrastructure allowing easier access to the Winnona Park neighborhood, East Decatur Greenway, and Avondale MARTA station. In the Creative Village, seven affordable art studios have bloomed in partnership with the Decatur Arts Alliance, providing space for seven local artists to pursue and show their work right here in their own community.

Finally, as we face a prevailing epidemic of isolation and loneliness here and across the country, we expanded our work to create a fully inclusive and connected community. Our new track and field facility will be open to all — the community, students, and Parks and Recreation programming — allowing folks of all ages and interests to engage in healthy activity together. New gallery space and art classes in the Creative Village nurture our spirit, helping introduce people to new hobbies and new friends.

As we venture forth into 2025, allow me to conclude with an expression of gratitude for Lyn Menne, Legacy’s first Executive Director, who built the solid foundation upon which our organization stands and provided the mentorship that prepared me for this role. Lyn guided us through the unknowns of the pandemic, balanced flexibility and structure, and kept focused on the community vision outlined in the Legacy Park Master Plan. She infused Legacy with a spirit of optimism, the prioritization of collaboration over credit, and a love for this community. 

I’m forever grateful as I present here below the highlights of our 2024 work.

Thank you all for your support as we continue to build this legacy. 

OUR MISSION

Legacy Decatur is a 501(c)(3) foundation established in Decatur, Georgia, in 2015

Legacy Decatur works to cultivate a broadly-defined, tangible legacy for future generations — reinforcing community values through partnerships and programs that support the City of Decatur, Georgia. 

To those ends, we organize our priorities around the city’s strategic goals, particularly as they relate to environmental stewardship, attainable housing, and community building. These interests converge at the city’s 77 acre Legacy Park, a former United Methodist Children’s Home, where ongoing management and implementation of the property’s master plan constitutes Legacy Decatur’s principal endeavor.

Paint Love, one of Legacy Park's nonprofit tenants, operates summer art camps. Photo: Paint Love.

Stewardship: A Greener Decatur

A DIVERSE AND VERDANT LANDSCAPE FOR A RESILIENT FUTURE

Trees, Trees, Trees: Over the course of the year, Trees Atlanta and their hundreds of volunteers removed countless invasive species and planted 150 trees and shrubs throughout the Legacy Park forest.

Wetland Restoration: Leveraging a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, we coordinated a volunteer effort to restore Legacy Park's wetlands, including the removal of over 4,000 pounds of debris, the removal of invasives, and the planting of over 300 trees, shrubs, and wetland flora. Many thanks to Allison Ericson, the City of Decatur’s Urban Naturalist, and Beech Hollow Farm’s Mary Jane Leach for their leadership on this project.

Good Food for Good People: Nonprofit Legacy Park tenant Global Growers Network continued their ardent care for the Decatur Kitchen Garden and the Legacy Park Orchard, deploying infrastructure to conserve water, maximize food production, improve soil health, and increase biodiversity.

Gardening Accessible to All: Trellis Horticulture Therapy Alliance has transformed an underused patch of grass — an environmental monoculture — into a beautiful community garden designed to enrich the lives of people living with disabilities.

Perfect skies over Postal Pond and the Legacy Park forest. Photo: Legacy Decatur

The Way Home: A More Attainable Decatur

A PLACE FOR ALL MAKES SPACE FOR ALL

Affordable Housing: In the southeastern corner of the park, the Decatur Housing Authority broke ground and went vertical on an affordable housing village for low and middle income earners. Made possible with Federal housing funds, the project will create 132 homes for individuals and families who'd otherwise be priced out of the Decatur community.

Welcome Artists! In a market offering few opportunities for affordable art studios, Legacy's partnership with the Decatur Arts Alliance brought us new space in the Creative Village where we've since welcomed 7 local artists paying below-market rent. 

Coming or Going, We've Got You Covered: In the works is Phase 3 of the South Columbia Drive multi-use path, its final extension across Legacy Park’s frontage to Katie Kerr Drive. Over the past year, the city, together with the community, has designed the crosswalks, pathway, and landscaping that will complete community connections to the Winnona Park neighborhood, East Decatur Greenway, and Avondale MARTA station, making Legacy Park more accessible than it's ever been.

Sweet Relief: You deserve all the comforts of home when visiting the park. Part of our new track and field facility includes the installation of all new public restrooms available whenever the park is open. 

The Village at Legacy community center. Photo: Decatur Housing Authority

Neighboring: A More Connected Decatur

WEAVING TOGETHER THE FABRIC OF COMMUNITY

Celebrating Our Connected Community: 2024 was alive with the sounds of community, from Truckin’ Tuesdays, Community Day, and Camp Out Legacy, to the many events hosted by organizations and individuals across the campus. Beyond that, we welcomed many others drawn by the inclusive playground, our peaceful trails, and so much more.

Run, Jump, and Play! Acting on the most popular community request in the Legacy Park master plan, we partnered with the City of Decatur and City Schools of Decatur to construct a state of the art track and field facility that's now nearly complete and set to open in early 2025. The new facility will be open to all — the community, students, and Parks and Recreation programming — allowing folks of all ages and interests to engage in healthy activity together.

An Incubator for Good Works: By repurposing historic buildings across the Legacy Park campus, our local nonprofits are able to invest the money they save in reduced-rent office space into community programming, like Paint Love’s monthly free family art day; Frank Hamilton School’s folk jams; Wild Nest Bird Rehab’s care for 1,500 birds (most of which can be released at Legacy Park); Refugee Women’s Network’s many social and economic adjustment programs, including their new commercial kitchen lease allowing refugee and other low-income women to grow catering businesses and gain financial independence; Global Growers Network's stewardship of the Decatur Kitchen Garden; Georgia Arborist Association’s donated tree care; L’Arche Atlanta’s ability-inclusive community events; Compassionate Atlanta’s CompassionCon event; Decatur Education Foundation’s mental health training; and countless other programs.

Invaluable Volunteers: Over 150 people volunteered at Legacy Park in 2024 (and that's not even counting the many others working with Trees Atlanta) to pull invasives, reintroduce wetland plants, refinish the Chapel hardwood floors, paint our biggest community event space, and mulch trees to protect their roots and improve soil health. 

Get Artsy: Our Creative Village's ongoing evolution now features gallery space and community art classes in partnership with the Decatur Arts Alliance, bringing the community closer together through celebration of the arts.

Staff from Keller Williams Atlanta load up the mulch as part of their yearly Red Day volunteering initiative. Photo: Keller Williams

Welcome to our Newest Board Member

Laurie Schwartz is the latest addition to the Legacy Decatur Board of Directors, replacing retiring member Meredith Struby. With experience in senior living and affordable housing financing and a history of involvement with high-impact economic development projects, she helps guide the Legacy Decatur board through the implementation of Legacy Park’s master plan.

We get by with a little help from our friends

If you believe in the work we're doing — with Legacy Park and otherwise — and in the idea that an expansion of that work will make our city an even greener, more connected and more attainable place to live, we encourage you to give some thought to the legacy that you’ll leave behind.
 
Let’s be partners in the hard work of leaving Decatur better than we found it. Donate today.